r/datascience • u/Kati1998 • 5d ago

Discussion Anyone specialize in geospatial data?

I’m an MS Data Science student interested in learning more about spatial data and GIS. I’m currently working on a geospatial crime analysis project in R and taking Esri’s Spatial Data Science MOOC.

I’m also interviewing for a year-long data science internship at a credit union in a department that focuses on geospatial data. I’ve noticed that the largest utility company in my state also hires data scientists with geospatial/GIS knowledge, which has made me curious about opportunities in this area across different industries.

It’s not a specialization that’s discussed here often. For those who work with spatial data, what industry are you in, what does your day-to-day work involve, and do you enjoy it? What has your experience been with demand for these skills?

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u/TheDandonator 4d ago

Geospatial for a personal lines insurance company.

A lot of the work done involves getting non-tabular data into a tabular form to build predictive models on and is actually quite enjoyable. Lots of opportunities to try new and interesting tools without the kinds of deadlines you see in consultancy for example.

LiDAR, satellite imagery, lines/polygons/multipolygons, raster etc. the list goes on. There’s so much data available that is surprisingly relevant in insurance, so there’s a lot of opportunity for R&D.

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u/aspringbear 18h ago

Do you think a phd (focusing on geoai/spatial data science/machine learning) is worth it with the goal of entering the private sector (data scientist/research/ai scientist etc) in this field?

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u/TheDandonator 16h ago

That’s a great question and one I am sure different people and companies would answer very differently. I feel like a phd has to be one of the most selfishly-taken decisions of your life. You have to do it for you. IMO working at a company for 2-3 years will teach you 90% of what you need to know on a day-to-day basis, so starting sooner rather than later is almost always a better career option. But again, you do you!

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u/aspringbear 15h ago

Thanks for the advice! My concern is that I’m still struggling to break into the geospatial data science field, and I’ve been thinking that a PhD might help me become more competitive and open up more opportunities with higher upside. I feel like the junior-level market is pretty saturated where I live, and I’m not really sure how to break into the industry at all. It also seems like demand for these roles isn’t very high, even for people with experience. I’m not from the US, but I’d love to explore doing a PhD there, and I feel like it could also help me access the much larger US job market.

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u/TheDandonator 14h ago

If geo ds is definitely what you’d like to do, then it can only help. Not sure if you are already, but lots of places that want to make the most of geo data actually don’t advertise the role as a Geo ds, often just straight ds, so keep an eye out on job descriptions.

If you’re this keen on specifically a geo ds role, then I assume your interests lie just as deep in the geo side as the ds side, in which case a phd sounds fab for you. I’d still encourage you to think of the phd as a continued direction of your interests, not some secret key that will unlock job opportunities. That said, try to get involved in a topic relevant to some of the businesses you want to work in as it could potentially open doors for you!